The hundreds of incursions over the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon have lawmakers concerned about possible spying.
National security officials are concerned that the recent discovery of hundreds of Chinese-made drones in the restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., may pave the way for new methods of foreign espionage.
Users are manipulating recreational drones made by Chinese manufacturer DJI, designed with “geofencing” restrictions to keep them out of sensitive regions, to fly across no-go zones around the country’s capital using easy workarounds.
Three sources with knowledge of the meetings said that federal officials and drone industry experts briefed the Senate Homeland Security, Commerce, and Intelligence committees on the development. An Intelligence Committee representative declined to comment on the briefings despite being closely informed of the counterintelligence dangers. The two other committees did not comment.
Seven federal employees, lawmakers, congressional staffers, and contractors were interviewed for this article. They were given anonymity because they weren’t allowed to discuss secret, sometimes-classified meetings between government officials in public.
The officials assert that they do not think the Chinese government is controlling the swarms. However, the proliferation of relatively inexpensive but more sophisticated drones that may be used for leisure and commerce has taken a new turn due to user abuses. Additionally, they occur when Congress is debating whether or not to expand current federal authority and adopt new ones to monitor aerial vehicles as potential security risks.
According to Rachel Stohl, vice president of research programs at the Stimson Center think tank, who carefully monitors the global drone sector, commercial drones are used for immoral purposes. “We are witnessing the reliance and deployment of commercial drones in conflict zones, in other theaters.”
“These may be harmless data collection,” she continued, “or just looking about, seeing what’s occurring.” However, there is always a chance they could grow more harmful in the future.
It’s still being determined what Congress will do, if anything, to confront the threat. Many bills have been introduced, but the majority still need to advance past the committee stage. In addition, unless lawmakers take action to extend it, the limited authority already in place for non-defense government agencies to utilize counter-drone technology would soon expire. The federal government is currently funded under a continuing resolution that expires on December 16.
Even while authorities believe Beijing is not in charge of the swarms, DJI has tried to hide the fact that it has received finance from Chinese government-owned investment companies. Additionally, because recreational users can easily circumvent the flight limits, they can hack into their high-definition cameras or other sensors for intelligence gathering.
Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, commented on the potential dangers posed by foreign-made drones in an interview: “Any technological product with origins in China or Chinese companies holds a real risk and potential of vulnerability that can be exploited both now and in a time of conflict.” “But anything technological has the capability of having embedded, in the software or in the actual hardware, vulnerabilities that can be exploited at any given moment,” added Rubio. “They’re manufactured in China or by a Chinese company, but they’ll put a sticker on it of some non-Chinese company that repackages it, so you don’t even know that you’re buying it (R-Fla.).
According to DJI, it does not influence what customers do after buying its devices.
According to Arianne Burrell, manager of communications for DJI Technology, Inc., “Unfortunately, DJI puts everything in place to identify and tell our consumers about locations in which they can’t fly, but we can’t control the end user’s behavior.”
However, she continued, “we take all necessary measures to guarantee that they adhere to the rules established by their localities.
Hacking or manipulation
The bulk of recreational drones sold in the United States come from DJI, the leading producer of consumer and professional drones worldwide.
Government officials and outside security specialists are concerned about possible connections between the drone manufacturer and the Chinese government. The Pentagon forbade the purchase of Chinese-made drones in 2017, and the Interior Department, which is in charge of the federal government’s largest civilian drone fleet, banned its usage outside of emergencies. However, a 2020 research found that thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations rely significantly on DJI drones.
According to the report, public safety organizations use the most drones, mostly DJI models, in California, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Florida.
Commercial drones that utilize GPS for navigation are all built not to be able to fly in the restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., and they all come with user manuals reminding owners to abide by any applicable local laws. These limitations, however, are easily overcome.
a government contractor who assisted in gathering the data for federal authorities said, “There are Youtube videos that could walk your grandparents through how to update the software on one of these drones to be non-detectable and to do a whole lot of other things — get rid of elevation ceilings, all kinds of stuff.” “Due to a specified no-fly zone, if you were to purchase a DJI drone from the store, it wouldn’t fly over airports or particular cities. Therefore, anything made by DJI that we see in Washington, D.C., has been modified to allow flight in these zones.
The regular violations of certain rules may provide malevolent actors with valuable intelligence.
According to the contractor, the threat is comparable to “an eight-year-old child or an innocent adult who got a DJI for Christmas and is unknowingly collecting data for someone who could become a severe foe.”
